Question of the Day

Should Trump keep Pence on the ticket in 2020?

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Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., speaks on why alleged attacker in New York should be held as enemy combatant during a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Nov. 1, 2017. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta) more >

“I think we need a special counsel to investigate the Fusion GPS episode between the Democratic Party, Mr. [Christopher] Steele and Russian operatives,” the South Carolina Republican told “Fox News Sunday.” “I think we need a special counsel to investigate the Uranium One episode where thousands of dollars were given to the Clinton Global Fund and to former President Bill Clinton from groups tied to Russia.”

Mr. Trump said Friday that the Justice Department “should be looking at the Democrats,” but Mr. Graham said “that’s just not the way we do it in America.”

“It’s not his job to be telling the attorney general to prosecute a particular individual or group. It is the attorney general’s job to do that independent,” Mr. Graham said. “We have a rule of law that’s independent of political influence. And when you call on the attorney general to prosecute your former opponent, that is crossing a line.”

Instead, Mr. Graham said he wants to see a special counsel investigate the issues involving Fusion GPS, an opposition research firm funded in part by the Clinton campaign and Democratic National Committee to dig up dirt on then-candidate Trump.

Fusion GPS retained Mr. Steele, a former British intelligence officer, to write up the Trump dossier, in which he used sources linked to the Kremlin and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

“Everything about Fusion GPS stinks,” Mr. Graham said. “The idea that the Democratic Party would hire, through a law firm, a foreign intelligence officer to go to Russia and try to gather dirt means that they’ve set themselves up to be manipulated by the Russians.”

He said he also wanted to see a special counsel probe the 2010 Uranium One deal, in which the Obama administration agreed to allow a Russian firm to buy a Canadian company involved in U.S. uranium production.

Special counsel Robert Mueller was appointed in May by the Justice Department to probe Russian interference in the 2016 presidential race, but Mr. Graham said, “We need a special counsel because Mueller can’t do this.”